Abundance of Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae) and urban transmission of visceral leishmaniasis in Campo Grande, state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

The outspread and urbanization of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in Campo Grande, state of Mato Grosso do Sul, lead us to undertake the present study over diversity and abundance of sand flies in the urban area to compare with previous search carried out during 1999/2000, before the identification of the disease in the human population.The captures were carried out with automatic light traps, weekly, from February 2004 to February 2005 on three sites including a forested area (Zé Pereira), two peridomicilies (shelters of domestic animals and cultivation areas), and intradomicilie. In the present study 110 collections were obtained during 13 months for 1320 h of collections, resulting in 5004 specimens, 3649 males and 1355 females belonging to the 20 following species: Brumptomyia avellari, Brumptomyia sp., Bichromomyia flaviscutellata, Evandromyia lenti, E. termitophila, E. cortelezzii, E. borrouli, Lutzomyia sp., L. longipalpis, Micropygomyia quinquefer, N. antunesi, N. whitmani, Pintomyia christenseni, Pi. damascenoi, Psathyromyia aragaoi, Ps. campograndensis, Ps. hermanlenti, Ps. shannoni, Pychodopygus claustrei, and Sciopemyia sordellii. L. longipalpis was the most abundant species in the anthropic environment with 92.22% of the captures. This shows an increase of sixty times in the density of L. longipalpis compared to the last sand fly evaluation in 1999/2000. The high density of L. longipalpis in Campo Grande is the main factor of risk in transmission of the disease to human in the urban area. The capture of N. antunesi, typical specie from Amazonian region, in Mato Grosso do Sul is reported for the first time.     

Molecular analysis of 23 exons of the CFTR gene in Brazilian patients leads to the finding of rare cystic fibrosis mutations

To define mutations present in 23 exons and flanking intronic sequences of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene in 95 patients from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, we carried out single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis and automated direct sequencing. Mutation detection was achieved in 45% of the alleles presented, and complete genotyping (two mutated alleles) was accomplished in 34.7% of the patients. Twenty patients (21.1%) were found to carry only one mutation, whereas mutated alleles could not be observed in 42 patients (44.2%). Eleven mutations were found, of which four were characterized as rare mutations: P205S (1.05%), Y1092X (0.53%), S549R (0.53%), and S4X (0.53%). The DF508 mutation in this population sample showed a frequency of 28.42%. The low number of individuals (10 of 95; 10.5%) with compound heterozygous (DF508/non-DF508) genotypes could indicate the presence of another severe mutation leading to the premature death of these individuals. In 4 of the aforementioned 10 individuals with compound heterozygous genotypes, the D-7-2-1-2 (XV2c-KM19-IVS6a-TUB9-M470-T854) haplotype was defined.     

Protein kinase CK2 promotes cancer cell viability via up-regulation of cyclooxygenase-2 expression and enhanced prostaglandin E2 production

Augmented expression of protein kinase CK2 is associated with hyperproliferation and resistance to apoptosis in cancer cells. Effects of CK2 are at least partially linked to signaling via the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, which is dramatically enhanced in colon cancer. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), a Wnt/β-catenin target gene, has been associated with enhanced cancer progression and metastasis. However, the possibility that a connection may exist between CK2 and COX-2 has not been explored previously. Here we investigated changes in COX-2 expression and activity upon CK2 modulation and evaluated how these changes affected cell viability. COX-2 expression and cell viability decreased upon selective inhibition of COX-2 with SC-791 or CK2 with 2-dimethylamino-4,5,6,7-tetrabromo-1H-benzimidazole (DMAT), both in human colon (HT29-ATCC, HT29-US, DLD-1) and breast (ZR-75) cancer cells, as well as in human embryonic kidney (HEK-293T) cells. On the other hand, ectopic CK2α expression promoted up-regulation of COX-2 by activating the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in HEK-293T cells. Noteworthy, over-expression of either CK2α, β-catenin or COX-2, as well as supplementation of the medium with prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), all were individually sufficient to overcome limitations in cell viability triggered by CK2 inhibition either upon addition of DMAT or over-expression of a dominant negative CK2α variant. Altogether, these findings provide new insight to the role of CK2 in cancer by up-regulating COX-2 expression and thereby PGE2 production.     

Performance of the eclipse monitor unit objective tool utilizing volumetric modulated arc therapy for rectal cancer

AimTo assess the performance of the monitor unit (MU) Objective tool in Eclipse treatment planning system (TPS) utilizing volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) for rectal cancer.BackgroundEclipse VMAT planning module includes a tool to control the number of MUs delivered: the MU Objective tool. This tool could be utilized to reduce the total number of MUs in rectal cancer treatments.Materials and methods20 rectal cancer patients were retrospectively studied using VMAT and the MU Objective tool. The baseline plan for each patient was selected as the one with no usage of the MU Objective tool. The number of MUs of this plan was set to be the reference number of MUs (MU_ref). Five plans were re-optimized for each patient only varying the Max MU parameter. The selected values were 30%, 60%, 90%, 120% and 150% of MU_ref for each patient. Differences with respect to the baseline plan were evaluated regarding MU number and parameters for PTVs coverage evaluation, PTVs homogeneity and OARs doses assessment. A two-tailed, paired-samples t-test was used to quantify these differences.ResultsAverage relative differences in MU number obtained was 10% for Max MU values of 30% and 60% of MU_ref, respectively (p < 0.03). PTVs coverage and homogeneity were not compromised and discrepancies obtained with respect to baseline plans were not significant. Furthermore, maximum OARs doses deviations were also not significant.ConclusionsA 10% reduction in the MU number could be obtained without an alteration of PTV coverage and OARs doses for rectal cancer.     

Cystic fibrosis: low frequency of DF508 mutation in 2 population samples from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Blood samples from 44 unrelated cystic fibrosis (CF) patients from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, were analyzed for the 8 European CF mutations. Six homozygous and 15 heterozygous carriers of the DF508 mutation were found, corresponding to 47.7% of CF patients (allele frequency 0.3068). The G542X and G551D mutations were also observed with allele frequencies of 0.0227 and 0.0114, respectively. An analysis of the DF508 mutation in 291 randomly chosen, healthy individuals was performed, and only 3 heterozygous carriers were identified. These results show that the frequency of the DF508 allele in Rio de Janeiro is much lower than the world average; this may be due to the extremely heterogeneous ethnic admixture of the study population. By combining the results of these 2 different samples (CF patients and random population) and admixture data from Rio de Janeiro, we can estimate the CF incidence in this population to be 1:3542 individuals. However, taking into account the Rio de Janeiro ethnic admixture, we can find an estimate of 1:6902 individuals.     

Biologic data of Macaca mulatta, Macaca fascicularis, and Saimiri sciureus used for research at the Fiocruz primate center

Physiological parameters of laboratory animals used for biomedical research is crucial for following several experimental procedures. With the intent to establish baseline biologic parameters for non-human primates held in closed colonies, hematological and morphometric data of captive monkeys were determined. Data of clinically healthy rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis), and squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) were collected over a period of five years. Animals were separated according to sex and divided into five age groups. Hematological data were compared with those in the literature by Student's t test. Discrepancies with significance levels of 0.1, 1 or 5% were found in the hematological studies. Growth curves showed that the sexual dimorphism of rhesus monkeys appeared at an age of four years. In earlier ages, the differences between sexes could not be distinguished (p < 0.05). Sexual dimorphism in both squirrel monkeys and cynomolgus monkeys occurred at an age of about 32 months. Data presented in this paper could be useful for comparative studies using primates under similar conditions.